The II Forum on Infrastructure Defense, organized by Telefónica and the Ibero-American Association of Research Centers and Telecommunications Enterprises (AHCIET, Asociación Hispanoamericana de Centros de Investigación y Empresas de Telecomunicaciones) was held this week in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina. The meeting serving as experience exchange among operators of the region, ended with a document with proposals to submit before the Organization of American States (OAS), the International Telecommunication Unit (ITU) and the United Nations (UN).
Rubén Longobuco, Director of Security and Protection of Telefónica de Argentina explained to Convergencialatina that “robbery of infrastructure is committed with more developed technology and we have to be ready to counterbalance this situation”. Moreover, he underlined that companies of the sector agree on the fact "that we have to change the prevailing laws and make them harder so that infrastructure robberies are not considered simple stealing".
A proposal handled within the forum was to claim special procedures for these cases, since they are crimes which interrupt utilities operation. "In Chile is where these crimes are mostly punished. Not because laws are tougher but because they are accordingly complied with. Moreover, countries such as Peru and Colombia already have special prosecutions, and they are producing good results”, stated Longobuco.
Within the proposals aimed at the legal environment, there is the possibility of strengthening controls of copper export. But for Telefónica executive, "this is difficult in countries where this business is important, which are many in the region". Longobuco mentioned that in 2003, Telefónica de Argentina submitted a bill to Congress in this respect, but there has not been a resolution on that yet. An initiative of the Asociación de Servicios Públicos de la Argentina, ADESPA (Utilities regulatory association) suggest the creation of a register of exporters and these should present a certificate in which they det4ermine the origin of the materials to be sold abroad.
The companies assure that, although user is the immediate damaged, economic damages suffered from the robbery of cables are high. "For example, last year, we had to invest around US$ 1 million and US$ 1.2 million to replace them”, informed Héctor Rafael Vega Espínola, Operating deputy manager of the Compañía Paraguaya de Comunicaciones, COPACO.